Human Circle, a community of students and professionals from different backgrounds, educational fields, and goals, organised the sixth Young India Challenge (YIC) on the 17th and 18th of September, 2016 at Shri Ram College of Commerce. The tagline – Do What You Love – was an indication of the event’s proceedings. The conference was aimed at facilitating young people in finding their passion in life.

The event started in the morning outside the main auditorium, with ice breaker sessions for the delegates. Post that, everyone moved inside where Kamal Seth, the founder of the organisation, took up the stage and shared the journey of the community and the previous YICs. Sonia Joanna Szymczak, the next speaker, held an interactive session with the delegates asking questions about their expectations from their life and the YIC. Next, Wioleta Burdzy Seth, one of the co-founders of the organisation and a life coach, started with the ‘Hack Your Brain’ session. Continuing the trend, she began by opening a dialogue with the audience. She shared many of her experiences with the delegates and asked them to do the same. “Bend your reality to make your own rules,” said Wioleta when discussing various societal and life pressures influencing people towards their careers. The session concluded with tips and techniques to get a better grip on life.

The afternoon session on Day 1 began with conversations with speakers. Sankalp Chhabra, who currently works in the corporate social responsibility sector of Snapdeal, talked about the importance of consistently working hard for your goal. He has many accolades to his name, having worked for the Central Board of Secondary Education and for the Planning Commission of India. Sankalp spoke about his journey as a whole – from the time he realised his goal, to the everyday efforts he put in to achieve it. One of the most substantive statements by Sankalp with regard to this was “You need to make it happen on a day by day basis.”

The next speaker, Sonia Joanna Szymczak, spoke about her love for travel and how it influenced her career. She focuses on cross cultural business communication, which she called the “global approach to business and people.” Her presentation revolved around the differences in etiquette around the world, during which she presented a graphic that stated that curiosity and non-judgemental thinking lead to positive learning. She also spoke in depth about her personal experiences and personal growth.

After the speaker session, the delegates were divided into teams and were given time to get to know each other. They were also asked to prepare material for the next day.

The next day started with an ice-breaking session, wherein the delegates had to collectively work towards building a paper tower. This was followed with a ‘know your mentor’ session, in which each of the 16 mentors introduced themselves and shared snippets of the life-events that contributed in them following their respective career paths. The mentors included Human Circle co-founders, Wioleta Burdsy Seth and Kamal Seth, along with various entrepreneurs coming from different backgrounds.

The main project of the day was for the participants to come up with a product which they could patent, trademark or copyright, based on any one of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. For this purpose, the delegates were divided into teams and allotted the pre-lunch period to work on their ideas and also consult with the different mentors.

During the presentation session, the different teams put forward very innovative ideas concerning a number of issues like inadequate drinking water in rural India, oceanic pollution, poor educational facilities and many more. Each team was allotted a period of 5 minutes to present their product, after which they were questioned by a panel of 3 judges.

The two day programme culminated in a prize-distribution ceremony in which the winners of the ‘Young India Challenge’ were presented with prizes, while all of the participants were given ‘Excellence certificates.’

An innovative and enjoyable initiative by Human Circle, the Young India Challenge aims at locating and honing the abilities of the future leaders of our nation. Not only did the delegates have a lot of fun, but they also had a lot of valuable take-aways from the programme.

This article originally appeared on DU Beat – You can see it here